Music on the Internet

by David Merrill
May 2000

I.Introduction

II.Audio File Types

III.Digitizing, Encoding & Optimizing

IV.Compression

V.Internet Audio Distribution

• Napster

• MP3.com

• Home Grown Music Network

• EyeQRadio

VI.Other Players

• Liquid Audio

• RealJukebox

• MusicMatch Jukebox

VII.Summary & Recommendations

VIII.References

In researching this project, I set out to learn as much as possible about the various types of audio commonly used on the Internet. I wanted to find out why certain types of sound files have become the preferred or standard formats for Internet use. My primary goal was to discover how an independent musician might create audio files for distribution via the Internet. I was additionally interested in learning about services and devices that allow a user to search for, playback, record and otherwise manipulate Internet audio files. I wanted to obtain a better understanding of some of the terms and products that I have heard about in regards to Internet audio, such as MP3, streaming audio, and the controversial Napster.

To accomplish these goals I spent a considerable amount of time searching a wide variety of Internet music sites, downloading audio software utilities, and reading tutorials explaining how to create and manipulate audio files. I also interviewed people who have incorporated Internet audio technologies into their businesses. Along the way I have acquired a substantial knowledge of Internet audio technologies, although it seems that for every piece of the puzzle I discovered and researched I also uncovered ten more puzzles to be investigated. I know that there is still much for me to study and learn about Internet audio technology, and it is changing every day as new players enter the arena bringing fresh ideas, and as older companies merge and combine their technologies to create more powerful utilities.

In the following pages I will present some of the best and most interesting utilities, businesses and web sites currently available for creating, playing and distributing music on the Internet.

Many different types of sound files have been designed over the years. As computer audio technology advances and improvements are made, some of the older technologies fall into disuse. There are still several types of audio that may be encountered on the Internet. The most common types are listed in the table below.

Each file type possesses aspects which make it suitable for certain situations. The advances in MPEG Layer 3 (MP3) have made it the current favorite for providing downloadable CD-quality music via the Internet (files which are saved to and played from a hard drive). RealNetworks, Inc.’s savvy marketing of its RealPlayer utility is at least partially responsible for the widespread appeal of RealAudio as the standard file type for streaming audio (files that reside on, and are played or "streamed" from, a server). The company made RealPlayer available for free download and currently estimates that over 15 million RealPlayers have been distributed worldwide. In August of 1999 Xing Technologies, the makers of Streamworks streaming audio technology, merged with RealNetworks. By incorporating the best of the two streaming technologies, the merger has added versatility to RealPlayer, and facilitated the development of the RealJukebox utility which is described in the section on Internet audio players.

In order to distribute CD-quality sound via the Internet, a sound file must first be converted, or digitized, from its original format (analog, DAT, CD, etc.) into a format that the computer can use. The resulting file must then be encoded into a chosen file format (WAV, MPEG, RA, etc.) and optimized in order to obtain the highest possible sound quality. The entire process is simplified through the use of sound-editing utilities such as Syntrillium’s Cool Edit (for Windows), and Macromedia’s SoundEdit 16 (for Mac). In addition, some of the newer Internet Audio Players include digitizing and sound-editing features, such as RealJukebox and MusicMatch Jukebox, which will be discussed later.

Cool Edit and SoundEdit 16 are both fairly straightforward and user-friendly, displaying control panels similar to those found on a CD player. SoundEdit also allows you to monitor and adjust recording levels, if desired. Both utilities allow the user to select the audio sample rate, one or two channels (Mono or Stereo), and 8- or 16-bit resolution. Recording only one channel, and at the lower resolution, results in a smaller audio file, even before compressing (which will be discussed in the next section). Selecting a lower sampling rate can also reduce the file size. Because my goal was to encode a CD-quality sound file I selected a sample rate of 44.100 (standard for CD format), in Stereo with 16-bit resolution.

In either sound-editing utility, just two clicks of the mouse begins the recording process. A waveform is displayed on the screen as the digitizing takes place. Once the digitizing has finished you can click on the Play button to hear what was just recorded. My first attempts were recorded at too loud a volume, resulting in annoying clicks which I was unable to edit out during optimization. This problem was resolved by decreasing the volume via the computer’s Sound or Media Control Panel, and re-digitizing the sound file.

Both Cool Edit and SoundEdit 16 allow you to save, or encode, a digitized file in a variety of file formats, both compressed or uncompressed. Following the advice of Patterson and Melcher (1998) in Audio on the Web, I encoded my files "as a high-quality uncompressed WAV file" so that I would not have to re-digitize them later if I did not like the results obtained during the optimization process (p.40). This also allows a user the option of accessing the complete, uncompressed sound file at some point in the future in order to convert it to another format (RealAudio, MP3, etc.) with no loss of quality.

Optimization is used to reduce hissing or popping noises, and generally improve the overall quality of a sound file. Cool Edit offers more options for optimizing sound files than SoundEdit 16 does, although it is only fair to mention that I was using the free trail versions in my evaluation of these products. Cool Edit allows you to adjust the DC Bias, Noise Reduction, Compression (of sound waves, which is different from the audio file compression discussed in the following section), Equalization, and Normalization. SoundEdit 16 only lets you adjust the Normalization.

The results I obtained with Cool Edit were by far the best. The uncompressed audio file resulting from the SoundEdit 16 digitizing process contained annoying pauses or skips when played back. By contrast, Cool Edit produced a smooth, high-quality sound file which sounded excellent during playback. Cool Edit is my choice for best sound-editing utility. Cool Edit is available at www.syntrillium.com. SoundEdit 16 can be found at www.macromedia.com.

A computer file is compressed when a mathematical algorithm is applied to it in order to analyze and "squeeze" the data so that it takes up less physical space. Just as there are several types of sound files in use on the Internet, there are also different compression schemes that may be applied to those sound files, such as Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation (ADPCM), A-law, m -law, and MPEG. Each compression scheme, called a codec, utilizes a slightly different method to remove nonessential data from a file, while retaining the important data to create a much smaller file. ADPCM removes data in a linear fashion (i.e. every fourth bit gets dropped), while A-law and m -law analyze and remove quiet portions of a sound file while retaining the louder ones.

These compression schemes are adequate for dealing with short segments of songs, or voice clips, however for the purpose of putting downloadable CD-quality music on the web the overwhelming choice is MPEG. Developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group for distributing CD-quality audio and video over the Internet, the MPEG codec was designed to remove frequencies that are outside the range of human hearing. Removal of such nonessential frequencies leaves a pristine-sounding audio signal, as far as the human ear is concerned, while significantly reducing the size of the file. Patterson and Melcher (1998) state that the latest iteration of this compression format, MPEG Layer 3 (MP3), allows users "to distribute CD-quality music at less than one-tenth of its original size." (p.20). This accounts for the current overwhelming popularity and prevalence of MP3 as the standard downloadable audio format on the Internet.

Streaming audio, such as RealAudio and Liquid Audio, have their own built-in, proprietary compression schemes that are applied during the encoding process of those formats.

So you have your audio file digitized, encoded, optimized and compressed. What do you do with it now? Well, luckily for independent musicians, the Internet is evolving into a place where they can gain some exposure without the backing of a record company. Several Internet music sites are competing for the wares of unknown artists, in the hopes of carving out a niche with consumers who have grown tired of the same old sound-alike bands congesting the radio airwaves. These sites offer a wide range of promotional and distribution services, some of them entirely free and others at varying prices depending on services offered. At any rate, getting music onto the Internet has never been easier, and with the advent of DSL and cable modems providing users with faster connections it is only going to become easier to reach an ever-expanding audience of potential customers. The following are some of the premier resources for distributing music via the Internet.

Napster (www.napster.com) is an ingenious little "musicshare" application that can be used to search the Internet for MP3 files, either by song title or artist name. Once you have downloaded and installed the Napster software, you specify which folders on your hard drive will be accessible to all other Napster users. Then, anytime your computer is connected to the Internet, other Napster uses are able to scan the folders you specified, and retrieve any of your MP3 files that interest them. Independent musicians are thus able create a folder containing MP3 files of their music and, using Napster, make them immediately available over the web. This is the simplest way I have found to make music accessible via the Internet, and since Napster has a large user base, there exists the potential for widespread distribution.

The drawback to this approach is that Napster offers no promotional services at all, therefore unless the musician has some sort of name recognition already, who is going to search for their songs? Viewed from this perspective, the prospect of an unknown musician’s material being discovered via Napster becomes the Internet equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack.

Aside from facilitating MP3 search and download functions, Napster also provides a built-in MP3 Player, Hot Lists for tracking your favorite Napster sites, and a chat function.

However, Napster.com may be the most controversial site on the Internet. Apparently Napster users are more interested in swapping MP3 files of copyrighted materials than in discovering and swapping files of little-known or unknown artists. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the rock band Metallica, and the University of Southern California are all suing Napster for alleged copyright infringement. Two universities previously named in the Metallica lawsuit, Indiana University and Yale, have banned Napster from their campus networks. Both have since been dropped from the lawsuit. Pat Schroeder, President and CEO of the Association of American Publishers as quoted in the Library Journal Academic Newswire: May 11, 2000 said "Napster provided a service that encouraged theft of property and was detrimental to the owners of copyright." While some experts see Napster as a device for stealing copyrighted materials, others are sounding the death knell of copyright laws in the digital age. They feel that Pandora’s Box has been opened, and there will no longer be any way to enforce copyright protection.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the Napster lawsuits as they will set precedence for emerging Internet distribution technologies. Developers of products such as iMesh, FreeNet, and GlobalSCAPE’s CuteMX, all of which allow users to search other users hard drives for a variety of file types, including GIF, JPEG and WAV as well as MP3, will undoubtedly be keeping a close watch on the Napster case. Commercial and independent artists will also be keeping an eye on these proceedings, as decisions made will affect their livelihood.

MP3.com (www.mp3.com) may be one of the more appealing on-line music distribution sites for unknown artists. Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers (2000) in an article he wrote for Acoustic Guitar magazine says:

Later in the same article, Rodgers quotes New York-based singer-songwriter Robin Hackett, who has sold over 300 CDs on MP3.com in just five months, as saying:

"I consider it successful because people are buying my music from Maine to California to Europe, Japan, the Fiji Islands, Hong Kong, Iceland, and Brazil. I would not have ever gotten to these people had it not been for the Internet."

Obviously the ability to offer digital audio music CDs (or DAM CDs as MP3.com calls them) over the web with little or no overhead is extremely attractive to struggling artists, as is the opportunity for worldwide distribution of their material. As with Napster, however, exposure is limited for musicians with little or no name-recognition. MP3.com does offer some marketing, but it is "chart-driven" which means that artists receiving the greatest amount of downloads get more exposure (i.e. being featured on a top-level MP3.com page, or listed in a Top 40 chart). Despite this "chicken or the egg" marketing strategy (is the promotion driving the downloads, or are the downloads driving the promotion?) MP3.com still appears to be a viable source for distributing music via the web, especially if you have a CD to sell.

When Lee Crumpton founded the Home Grown Music Network (HGMN) in 1995 he became a fore-runner in carving out a musical niche on the Internet. HGMN (www.homegrownmusic.net) caters to independent musicians whose work can be called improvisational or exploratory, and generally does not fit the music industry’s standard 3-minute formula for obtaining radio airplay. Because it is difficult for such bands to get airplay it is also difficult for them to obtain backing from record companies. HGMN provides an outlet for these musicians to be heard.

HGMN is not a free service, however bands that become members receive a number of promotional and marketing services, both on and off the web. These include features in the bi-annual Kind Music Catalog, inclusion on compilation CDs, and product distribution (hats, shirts, CDs, etc.) to fans and retail outlets around the world. Members are featured on the HGMN web site (www.homegrownmusic.net), with songs available in RealAudio format, plus on-line sales of CDs and other goods. An added benefit is Home Grown Radio, hosted by Crumpton, which not surprisingly features the music of HGMN members, plus interviews and the occasional advertisement of HGMN products.

Since all of HGMN’s audio files are encoded in RealAudio format there is no concern of piracy and copyright infringement as there is with Napster, and other such services. RealAudio is a streaming audio format, which means that when a user clicks on a web link to a RealAudio file the audio is played back, or "streamed," to them from a RealAudio server. The audio file is not downloaded, as MP3 files are, and thus never reside on a listener’s hard drive, therefore the listener must have a utility that supports playback of RealAudio files in order to access the music on this site. A link on the HGMN site directs users to www.real.com where they may download RealNetworks' RealPlayer free of charge.

When I asked Crumpton why he decided to go with RealAudio over other Internet audio formats, he replied:

Crumpton currently records his Home Grown Radio programs onto DAT, then uses Real Network’s RealProducer to digitize and encode it onto his computer. The resulting file is then transferred to server space leased from an ISP. "I got a package that provides us with all the space and traffic I need, daily backups, RealAudio server, Ecommerce and a lot more." (L. Crumpton, personal communication, May 9, 2000).

The total range of marketing and distribution services provided by HGMN should make this site appealing to artists whose work falls into this genre. The fact that the RealAudio format being used protects the artist’s works from piracy is also a plus.

EyeQRadio (www.eyeqradio.com) is a full-time, Internet only radio station that has been operating out of Miami, Florida since July of 1999. More than 50 deejays broadcast (or are rebroadcast) around the clock to an ever-expanding listener base in 107 countries. The station broadcasts "Every type of music known to man: from pygmies in the jungle and Javanese monks to Haitian compa music and everything in between." (Beast, 1999). EyeQRadio accepts musical submissions in all genres, and because their programming is extremely diverse there is an excellent chance of little-known musicians receiving airplay.

EyeQRadio uses RealAudio to distribute their broadcasts. Dave Chaskes, co-founder and Technical Director of EyeQ, described the operation for me:

EyeQ uses a "home-built Linux box" as a streaming audio server. "The server is tied to 80MB bandwidth, or two T3’s. We currently set a ceiling of 250 concurrent users." (D. Chaskes, personal communication, May 24, 2000). They plan to incorporate MP3, Windows Media Player and QuickTime audio capabilities in the future.

EyeQRadio does provide some promotion of lesser-known musicians. For example, the last time I visited the site, the main page contained an eye-catching advertisement for a program featuring music by a Pennsylvania-based group named The Disco Biscuits. However, EyeQ’s main promotion mechanism appears to be spotlighting the diversity of their musical programming, and the deejays that administer those programs. This could still work to the advantage of musicians who desire to build an "Internet presence", as many of the programs are geared toward a specific musical genre. Assuming, that is, that an artist’s work is presented to the correct audience. For instance, people "tuning in" for a Jazz program may not be appreciative of a garage band’s latest number, and vice versa. However if Jazz-lovers are exposed to a new Jazz band they might be persuaded to purchase their CD or buy tickets to a show.

All-in-all EyeQRadio appears to be a viable outlet for musicians who wish to distribute their product via Internet radio. The potential exists for reaching a vast listening audience. If EyeQ follows through with plans to incorporate MP3 capability, then independent artists might stand to benefit by having songs available for download by appreciative or curious EyeQRadio listeners. Providing a link to a service that allows users to purchase CDs on-line would also be beneficial and undoubtedly draw more artists into the "EyeQ family." EyeQRadio is only a year old, and running on a shoestring budget as they shop a business plan around to potential investors. It will be interesting to watch them evolve and grow as Internet radio technologies advance.

Aside from RealNetworks’ RealPlayer, which has been mentioned in previous sections, there are many other players in the Internet Audio market. A few of the more interesting and versatile products are described below.

Liquid Audio has carved itself a niche in the commercial marketplace. Users of the Liquid MusicPlayer can purchase and download "liquified" songs or CDs directly to their hard drive. The proprietary Liquid Audio software can add encryption to prevent anyone except the purchaser from playing it back. Another deterrent to piracy is Watermarking, which enables an audio file to be traced to its source. Liquid Audio files can be linked to a database to supply album art, liner notes, lyrics, etc. The Liquid MusicPlayer may be downloaded from www.liquidaudio.com.

RealNetworks RealJukebox utility allows users to record and encode analog or digital music into RealAudio, MP3 or .wav formats. Users can also create Music Libraries and build Playlists from songs on their hard drive or downloaded from the Internet. RealJukebox can play a wide variety of audio formats, including RealAudio, Liquid Audio, MP3 and .wav. In addition users can access a number of linked Internet sites to search for music to download or to purchase CDs on-line.

RealJukebox is included as an option when you download RealPlayer. Both utilities are available at www.real.com.

MusicMatch Jukebox is comparable to RealJukebox in many ways. MusicMatch Jukebox users can search on-line music databases, by artist or song titles, for music to download, create Music Libraries and Playlists, as well as purchase CDs on-line. Users can digitize and encode audio files in .wav, MP3 and Windows Media Player formats. A few additional features make MusicMatch Jukebox an attractive option, such as the ability to add cover art, liner notes, biographies, lyrics and more to files in your Music Libraries. Users may also burn CDs from a Playlist, provided they have a CD-R device installed.

One other feature that sets MusicMatch Jukebox apart from its competitors is the Net Radio component. Net Radio lets users search for and access Internet Radio Stations through a streaming audio technology called HiWire (www.hiwire.com). MusicMatch Jukebox may be downloaded free of charge from www.musicmatch.com. One caveat — you will need to download and install the latest version of Windows Media Player, if you don’t already have it, to obtain the full functionality of MusicMatch Jukebox.

Delving into the world of Internet audio can be a terrific, eye-opening, and somewhat mystifying experience. I hope that I have begun to somewhat de-mystify the various steps necessary to enable an independent musician to create an Internet presence of one sort or another. There remains a myriad of music sites on the Internet that I have only begun to explore, but did not include in this research paper due to time and space constraints. I’m sure that there are other Internet music businesses and sites which I have yet to discover, with more players tossing their hat into the ring seemingly every day.

For digitizing and encoding downloadable audio files, I obtained the best results using Cool Edit. In addition, Cool Edit provides superior tools for optimizing files for high quality output. The superiority of the MP3 compression scheme has made it the standard format for distributing downloadable CD-quality music via the Internet.

There are several viable options for distributing music via the Internet. Napster provides what is perhaps the simplest means of distribution. Napster is free and has a large user base, however they provide no marketing or promotion. Internet radio sites, such as EyeQRadio.com, accept song submissions from independent artists, but also offer little in the way of promotion and currently offer no means for listeners to purchase CDs on-line. At the other end of the spectrum, The Home Grown Music Network provides a slew of promotional and marketing services for a reasonable annual fee. Other on-line music distribution sites, such as MP3.com, offer limited promotion based on the quantity of downloads an artist’s work receives. MP3.com’s DAM CD option, which allows artists to distribute CDs worldwide with little overhead, seems extremely attractive despite the lack of marketing support. In my opinion the savvy independent musician will take advantage of several, or all, of these distribution methods in order to develop a presence on the web. Each possess their own particular advantages, and in the case of the free services there is no reason not to use them. The more services and sites used to distribute music in a variety of formats, the better the chances of the music be discovered and heard by as wide an audience as possible.

Use of a particular Internet audio player comes down to a personal choice. Obviously the RealPlayer utility is extremely popular and widely used. However, I highly recommend MusicMatch Jukebox. It is easy to use, visually appealing (with a variety of "skins" available), and incorporates several features not found in other Internet audio players, such as Internet radio and CD burning capability. Unfortunately MusicMatch Jukebox does not yet support RealAudio, therefore you would need to obtain another utility for playing RealAudio files on your computer.

Music on the Internet is certainly an interesting and rapidly growing enterprise. Many of the companies outlined above are pioneers in this evolving sector of the entertainment industry. It will be interesting to see what the future holds as technologies are improved, copyright issues are resolved, and the Internet is used in new and more efficient ways to distribute music. MP3.com announced earlier this month that they have reached an agreement with the recording industry that will allow them to utilize an on-line database of CDs. This allows users to upload their personal CD libraries to MP3.com, and then listen to them from any computer, anytime. Companies such as Dia�ow, in these early pioneering days, are likely to gain an advantage over their "real world" competitors. The Internet has already begun to change the way we listen to music, on a worldwide scale, and its impact will continue to grow as audio technologies advance, and more and more consumers get "plugged in" to music on the Internet.

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